Trump at center of Oath Keepers novel defense in Jan. 6 case
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and LINDSAY WHITEHURST
13 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The defense team in the Capitol riot trial of the Oath Keepers leader is relying on an unusual strategy with Donald Trump at the center.
Lawyers for Stewart Rhodes, founder of the extremist group, are poised to argue that jurors cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all the actions he took before the siege on Jan. 6, 2021, were in preparation for orders he anticipated from the then-president — orders that never came.
Rhodes and four associates are accused of plotting for weeks to stop the transfer of presidential power from the Republican incumbent to Democrat Joe Biden, culminating with Oath Keepers in battle gear storming the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters.
Opening statements in the trial are set to begin Monday.
Rhodes intends to take the stand to argue he believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act to call up a militia to support him, his lawyers have said. Trump didn't do that, but Rhodes' team says that what prosecutors allege was an illegal conspiracy was "actually lobbying and preparation for the President to utilize" the law.
It's a novel legal argument in a trial that's one of the most serious cases coming out of the Capitol attack.
"This is an incredibly complicated defense of theory and I don't think that it's ever played out in this fashion in American jurisprudence," one of Rhodes' lawyers, James Lee Bright, told The Associated Press.
To succeed with this line of defense, Bright would have to convince a jury that Rhodes was waiting on the go-ahead from the president, which could be a major hurdle.
Rhodes' lawyers have argued Trump could have called up a militia in response to “what he perceived as a conspiracy to deprive a class of persons in several states of their voting rights." Rhodes published an open letter on the Oath Keepers' website in December 2020 urging Trump use the Insurrection Act to “‘stop the steal’ and defeat the coup.”
If Rhodes testifies, he could face intense questioning from prosecutors, who say his own words show the Oath Keepers would act no matter what Trump did.
Bright said Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate, understands the risks of testifying but has insisted since the first day they met that he be able to “speak his piece."
Rhodes and his associates — Kelly Meggs, Thomas Caldwell, Jessica Watkins and Kenneth Harrelson — are the first Jan. 6 defendants to be tried on seditious conspiracy, a rarely used Civil War-era charge that can be difficult to prove.
The defense would have to convince the jury that the Oath Keepers really intended to defend the government, not use force against it, said David Alan Sklansky, a former federal prosecutor who's now a professor at Stanford Law School.
“If you think you are plotting to help protect the government, there is an argument that that means you don’t have the required guilty mindset that’s necessary in order to be guilty of seditious conspiracy," he said.
Court records show the Oath Keepers repeatedly warning of the prospect of violence if Biden were to become president. The Oath Keepers amassed weapons and stationed armed “quick reaction force” teams at a Virginia hotel in case they were needed, prosecutors say.
Among those likely to testify against Rhodes are three of his former followers, including one who has said Rhodes instructed them to be ready to use lethal force if necessary to keep Trump in the White House.
Defense lawyers say the quick reaction force teams were defensive forces only to be used if Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. If Rhodes really wanted to lead a revolution, his lawyers say there was no better opportunity to deploy the quick reaction force than when hundreds of people were storming the Capitol. But the Oath Keepers never did.
“The conditions would never be better. Yet, Rhodes and the others left the Capitol grounds and went to Olive Garden for dinner,” they've written in court papers. Rhodes never went into the Capitol and has said that the Oath Keepers who did acted on their own.
The Insurrection Act is shorthand for a series of statues that Congress passed between 1872 and 1871 defining when military force can be used in the United States by the federal government, said University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck. The Act does give the president wide discretion to decide when military force is necessary, and what qualifies as military force, Vladeck said.
The last time the Insurrection Act was used was in May of 1992, by President George H.W. Bush to call out the military to respond to Los Angeles riots after the acquittal of white police officers accused in the beating of Black motorist Rodney King.
Even if Trump had acted, prosecutors would still have a strong case that the Oath Keepers tried to keep Congress from carrying out its responsibilities as part of the transfer of presidential power, Vladeck said. Even if the president could authorize their actions, the Oath Keepers could still have been — as the law puts it — forcibly opposing other elements of the government, he said.
“The government of the United States is more than just the president,” Vladeck said.
Michael Weinstein, a former Justice Department prosecutor, agreed that Rhodes' argument is not likely to win over a jury. But that may not be his only goal.
“I think it’s going to be a little bit of a show trial for him,” said Weinstein, now a criminal defense lawyer in New Jersey. “This is his opportunity to really promote himself and his philosophy and make himself out to be a bit of a martyr."
Trump did talk about sending in U.S. troops to American cities in summer 2020 as protesters filled the streets in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer, an action that would have come under the Insurrection Act. He never did.
Los Angeles-based defense lawyer Nina Marino said the Insurrection Act defense could work.
“I think it’s a great defense from the 1800s resurrected into 2022,” she said. But she added: “If there’s evidence that they would have done it anyway, then I think that really, really damages the defense.”
Prosecutors have already pointed to a message from December 2020 that Rhodes wrote, saying Trump “needs to know that if he fails to act, then we will." Days before the riot, Rhodes warned that the “final nail” would be put in the “coffin of this Republic,” unless they fought their way out.
"With Trump (preferably) or without him, we have no choice,” Rhodes wrote in a chat, according to court papers. He added: “Be prepared for a major let down on the 6-8th. And get ready to do it OURSELVES."
____
Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press writer Michael Kunzelman contributed to this report.
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Will copped pleas or martyrdom for the cause be forthcoming? From WaPo.
A lieutenant of longtime former Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio became the group’s first member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Thursday, deepening the government’s case against an organization accused of mobilizing violence to prevent the inauguration of Joe Biden.
Jeremy Bertino, 43, of Belmont, N.C., becomes a potential key witness for the Justice Department against Tarrio and four other Proud Boys leaders, some of whom had ties to influential supporters of President Donald Trump. The five Proud Boys defendants are set to face trial in December on charges including plotting to oppose by force the presidential transition, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol.
At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly in Washington, Bertino pleaded guilty to that count and to one count of illegal possession of firearms as a formerly convicted felon, punishable by 51 to 63 months in prison at sentencing under advisory federal guidelines, prosecutors said.
John Zimmerman, who was part of the North Carolina chapter, told jurors that Rhodes claimed to have a Secret Service agent's number and to have spoken with the agent about the logistics of a September 2020 rally that then-President Donald Trump held in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The claim came on the third day of testimony in the case against Rhodes and four others charged with seditious conspiracy for what authorities have described as a detailed, drawn-out plot to stop the transfer of power from Trump to Democrat Joe Biden, who won the election.
Zimmerman could not say for sure that Rhodes was speaking to someone with the Secret Service — only that Rhodes told him he was — and it was not clear what they were discussing. Zimmerman said Rhodes wanted to find out the “parameters” that the Oath Keepers could operate under during the election-year rally.
The significance of the detail in the government's case is unclear. Rhodes, from Granbury Texas, and and the others are accused of spending weeks plotting to use violence in a desperate campaign to keep Trump in the White House.
Trump's potential ties to extremist groups have been a focus of the House committee investigating the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Another Oath Keeper expected to testify against Rhodes has claimed that after the riot, Rhodes phoned someone seemingly close to Trump and made a request: tell Trump to call on militia groups to fight to keep him in power. Authorities have not identified that person; Rhodes' lawyer says the call never happened.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said it is not uncommon for “protest groups” to contact the agency with logistical questions about rallies. He noted that firearms are always prohibited within restricted areas being secured by the agency. Guglielmi said he is not aware of any contact between Rhodes and an agency representative but would not be surprised if Rhodes said he had contacted the Secret Service before the North Carolina event.
“I don't have any way to track that down without some more information," the spokesman said.
The others are trial are Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia; Kenneth Harrelson of Titusville, Florida; Jessica Watkins of Woodstock, Ohio; and Kelly Meggs of Dunnellon, Florida. The trial is expected to last several weeks.
Authorities say the Oath Keepers organized paramilitary training and stashed weapons with “quick reaction force” teams at a Virginia hotel in case they were needed before members stormed the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters.
Jurors also heard testimony from a man who secretly recorded a Nov. 9, 2020, conference call held by Rhodes in which the leader rallied his followers to prepare for violence and go to Washington.
The man, Abdullah Rasheed, said he began recording the call with hundreds of Oath Keepers members because Rhodes' rhetoric made it sound like "we were going to war with the United States government.”
Rasheed said he tried to get in touch with authorities, including the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI, about the call but that no one called him back until “after it all happened.” An FBI agent has testified that the bureau received a tip about the call in November 2020, and when asked if the FBI ever conducted an interview, he said ”not to my knowledge." The man contacted the FBI again in March 2021, was interviewed and gave authorities the recording of the call.
Rhodes' lawyers have said the Oath Keepers leader will testify that his actions leading up to Jan. 6 were in preparation for orders he believed were coming from Trump, but never did. Rhodes has said he believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act and call up a militia to support his bid to hold power.
The defense says the Oath Keepers often set up quick reaction forces for events but they were only to be used to protect against violence from antifa activists or in the event Trump invoked the Insurrection Act.
Zimmerman, the former Oath Keeper from North Carolina, described getting a quick reaction force ready for the “Million MAGA March” in Washington on Nov. 14, 2020, in case Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. Thousands of Trump supporters that day gathered at Freedom Plaza along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington to rally behind Trump’s false election claims.
Zimmerman told jurors that the Oath Keepers stashed at least a dozen rifles and several handguns in his van parked at Arlington National Cemetery to serve as the quick reaction force. He said they never took the guns into Washington.
Zimmerman wasn’t in the city on Jan. 6 because he was recovering from the coronavirus and he said that after the Nov. 14 event, the North Carolina Oath Keepers split from Rhodes. Zimmerman said the split came over Rhodes' suggestion that the Oath Keepers wear disguises to entice antifa activists to attack them so the Oath Keepers could give them a “beat down.”
Zimmerman said Rhodes suggested dressing up as older people or mothers pushing strollers and putting weapons in the stroller.
“I told him 'No, that's not what we do,'” Zimmerman said. “That's entrapment. That's illegal.”
In a separate case on Thursday, Jeremy Joseph Bertino of North Carolina became the first member of the Proud Boys extremist group to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack. Three Oath Keeper members have also pleaded guilty to the charge.
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another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
John Zimmerman, who was part of the North Carolina chapter, told jurors that Rhodes claimed to have a Secret Service agent's number and to have spoken with the agent about the logistics of a September 2020 rally that then-President Donald Trump held in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The claim came on the third day of testimony in the case against Rhodes and four others charged with seditious conspiracy for what authorities have described as a detailed, drawn-out plot to stop the transfer of power from Trump to Democrat Joe Biden, who won the election.
Zimmerman could not say for sure that Rhodes was speaking to someone with the Secret Service — only that Rhodes told him he was — and it was not clear what they were discussing. Zimmerman said Rhodes wanted to find out the “parameters” that the Oath Keepers could operate under during the election-year rally.
The significance of the detail in the government's case is unclear. Rhodes, from Granbury Texas, and and the others are accused of spending weeks plotting to use violence in a desperate campaign to keep Trump in the White House.
Trump's potential ties to extremist groups have been a focus of the House committee investigating the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Another Oath Keeper expected to testify against Rhodes has claimed that after the riot, Rhodes phoned someone seemingly close to Trump and made a request: tell Trump to call on militia groups to fight to keep him in power. Authorities have not identified that person; Rhodes' lawyer says the call never happened.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said it is not uncommon for “protest groups” to contact the agency with logistical questions about rallies. He noted that firearms are always prohibited within restricted areas being secured by the agency. Guglielmi said he is not aware of any contact between Rhodes and an agency representative but would not be surprised if Rhodes said he had contacted the Secret Service before the North Carolina event.
“I don't have any way to track that down without some more information," the spokesman said.
The others are trial are Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia; Kenneth Harrelson of Titusville, Florida; Jessica Watkins of Woodstock, Ohio; and Kelly Meggs of Dunnellon, Florida. The trial is expected to last several weeks.
Authorities say the Oath Keepers organized paramilitary training and stashed weapons with “quick reaction force” teams at a Virginia hotel in case they were needed before members stormed the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters.
Jurors also heard testimony from a man who secretly recorded a Nov. 9, 2020, conference call held by Rhodes in which the leader rallied his followers to prepare for violence and go to Washington.
The man, Abdullah Rasheed, said he began recording the call with hundreds of Oath Keepers members because Rhodes' rhetoric made it sound like "we were going to war with the United States government.”
Rasheed said he tried to get in touch with authorities, including the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI, about the call but that no one called him back until “after it all happened.” An FBI agent has testified that the bureau received a tip about the call in November 2020, and when asked if the FBI ever conducted an interview, he said ”not to my knowledge." The man contacted the FBI again in March 2021, was interviewed and gave authorities the recording of the call.
Rhodes' lawyers have said the Oath Keepers leader will testify that his actions leading up to Jan. 6 were in preparation for orders he believed were coming from Trump, but never did. Rhodes has said he believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act and call up a militia to support his bid to hold power.
The defense says the Oath Keepers often set up quick reaction forces for events but they were only to be used to protect against violence from antifa activists or in the event Trump invoked the Insurrection Act.
Zimmerman, the former Oath Keeper from North Carolina, described getting a quick reaction force ready for the “Million MAGA March” in Washington on Nov. 14, 2020, in case Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. Thousands of Trump supporters that day gathered at Freedom Plaza along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington to rally behind Trump’s false election claims.
Zimmerman told jurors that the Oath Keepers stashed at least a dozen rifles and several handguns in his van parked at Arlington National Cemetery to serve as the quick reaction force. He said they never took the guns into Washington.
Zimmerman wasn’t in the city on Jan. 6 because he was recovering from the coronavirus and he said that after the Nov. 14 event, the North Carolina Oath Keepers split from Rhodes. Zimmerman said the split came over Rhodes' suggestion that the Oath Keepers wear disguises to entice antifa activists to attack them so the Oath Keepers could give them a “beat down.”
Zimmerman said Rhodes suggested dressing up as older people or mothers pushing strollers and putting weapons in the stroller.
“I told him 'No, that's not what we do,'” Zimmerman said. “That's entrapment. That's illegal.”
In a separate case on Thursday, Jeremy Joseph Bertino of North Carolina became the first member of the Proud Boys extremist group to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack. Three Oath Keeper members have also pleaded guilty to the charge.
Prosecutors seek prison for rioter's attack on AP journalist
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
9 Oct 2022
Federal prosecutors on Sunday recommended a prison sentence of approximately four years for a Pennsylvania man who pleaded guilty to assaulting an Associated Press photographer and using a stun gun against police officers during a mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss is scheduled to sentence Alan Byerly on Oct. 21 for his attack on AP photographer John Minchillo and police during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in Washington.
Sentencing guidelines recommend a prison term ranging from 37 to 46 months. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of at least 46 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. Byerly’s attorney has until Friday to submit a sentencing recommendation.
The judge isn't bound by any of the sentencing recommendations.
Byerly purchased a stun gun before he traveled from his home in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6. Leaving the rally before then-President Donald Trump finished speaking, Byerly went to the Capitol and joined other rioters in using a large metal Trump sign as a battering ram against barricades and police officers, prosecutors said.
After that, he went to the Capitol's Lower West Terrace, where he and other rioters attacked Minchillo, who was wearing a lanyard with AP lettering. Byerly is one of at least three people charged with assaulting Minchillo, whose assault was captured on video by a colleague.
Byerly then approached police officers behind bike racks and deployed his stun gun.
“After officers successfully removed the stun gun from Byerly’s hands, Byerly continued to charge toward the officers, struck and pushed them, and grabbed an officer’s baton,” prosecutors wrote.
Byerly later told FBI agents that he did just “one stupid thing down there and that’s all it was,” according to prosecutors.
“This was a reference to how he handled the reporter and nothing more,” they wrote.
Byerly treated Jan. 6 “as a normal, crime-free day, akin to the movie, ‘The Purge,’ when he could do whatever he wanted without judgment or legal consequence,” prosecutors said.
“He was mistaken,” they added.
More than 100 police officers were injured during the Capitol siege.
Approximately 900 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct on Jan. 6. More than 400 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor offenses. Over 280 riot defendants have been sentenced, with roughly half sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from one week to 10 years.
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memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,248
Trump supporters convicted of bringing guns near the 2020 Philly vote count, but cleared of election interference
Joshua Macias and Antonio Lamotta were convicted Wednesday of weapons offenses — but cleared of the rare election violations they also faced.
Antonio Lamotta and Joshua Macias were accused of driving this Hummer with guns and ammunition to Philadelphia after the 2020 presidential election.ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer
by Chris PalmerUpdated 46 minutes ago
Two Virginia men who were arrested in 2020 for carrying guns near the Convention Center as votes from the presidential election were being counted were convicted Wednesday of weapons offenses — but cleared of the rare election violations that city prosecutors had also filed against them.
Common Pleas Court Judge Lucretia Clemons found Antonio Lamotta and Joshua Macias guilty of two gun charges each, ruling that the men — Donald Trump supporters who drove to the city in a Hummer loaded with handguns, an assault rifle, and ammunition — had carried weapons in the city without proper permits on Nov. 5, 2020, as votes were being tabulated.
Clemons, without explaining her ruling, acquitted Lamotta and Macias of counts including election interference and hindering performance of duty. The District Attorney’s Office had argued that the men should be convicted of those infrequently used charges because they told FBI agents they had come to Philadelphia to ensure that all votes in the election were being properly counted.
They also sent text messages to each other and to friends, imploring people to visit swing states with close or contested vote counts to “poll watch,” prosecutors said, using phrases such as we need patriots or #StopTheSteal before getting into their SUV — emblazoned with a QAnon conspiracy sticker — and visiting Philadelphia.
“They [had] the intent of taking matters into their own hands,” Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Palmer said in his closing argument during a bench trial before Clemons.
Attorneys for the men — William J. Brennan, Alan Tauber, and Lauren Wimmer — vehemently disagreed, telling Clemons that although the men may have lacked proper permits to carry their firearms in the city, they were licensed Virginia gun owners who did not threaten any city election official or make any attempt to see or interfere with the counting of the votes.
“They came to Philadelphia, they didn’t bother anybody,” Brennan said.
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Wimmer said: “There’s no attempt here to do anything — they’re walking the streets.”
Speaking outside the courthouse afterward, Tauber said: “There was no evidence whatsoever that these gentlemen had any intention of interfering with the election or disturbing it in any way.”
District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement: “Let this be a lesson not to illegally bring firearms to Philly’s elections. If you commit a crime while seeking to undermine people’s right to vote, and to have their votes appropriately counted, you will be held accountable.”
Macias and Lamotta are scheduled to be sentenced in December.
According to a court filing by the Philadelphia District Attorney, this photograph found on Joshua Macias' phone shows Antonio LaMotta (left) wearing a QAnon hat and Macias in a Vets for Trump shirt, holding AR-15-style assault rifles.Read moreCourt filing
The District Attorney’s Office had alleged that on Nov. 5, 2020 — two days after Election Day — Macias and Lamotta drove to the city from Virginia with handguns, an AR-15-style rifle, and 160 rounds of ammunition.
Text messages presented to Clemons on Wednesday showed both men sending messages and chats asking friends to take action in an election Trump was falsely saying had been stolen.
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Macias, a cofounder of the group Vets for Trump, sent one flier-like image that read in part: “If you are in a neighboring state, take your vacation now and help the cause!”
And the day before Macias and Lamotta had come to the city, prosecutors said, they’d exchanged texts about bringing guns on their trip to Philadelphia.
“We need arms?” Lamotta wrote to Macias on Nov. 4, according to evidence prosecutors presented.
“For each of us,” Macias replied.
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The next morning, Lamotta wrote Macias: “I’m ready ... Hummer cleared out.”
The men arrived in Philadelphia on Nov. 5 and were arrested that night on the street near the Convention Center. Officers had noticed them carrying guns, and a search of the Hummer turned up the rifle and additional ammunition.
Prosecutors at first charged the pair with only weapons offenses. But last year, they added a set of election interference charges.
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They also repeatedly asked the courts to revoke bail for the men as the case wound its way toward trial. And Krasner described the incident as a potential mass shooting situation averted only by the swift action of law enforcement.
Without addressing those allegations, Brennan, one of Macias’ attorneys, said the pair did not deserve to face the election-related offenses they’d been charged with here. And he disputed Krasner’s suggestion that they could have turned to violence if they hadn’t been arrested.
Macias and Lamotta were “a couple of knuckleheads who drove up here to stare at the building and watch what was going on,” Brennan said. “And while that may be offensive to some people, and that may be unpleasant, and may be impolite, it’s not illegal.”
Hi. What do you think Trump was doing with all those top secret documents?
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brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,680
Hmmm, let's see, which is worse- ongoing problems generally unrelated to who is president at any one time, or an attack on the U.S. Capitol approved of a by a former (sort of) U.S. president involving sedition, attempted murder of law makers, murder and injury of police officers, and looting and vandalism.
Golly... what a choice...
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,248
Hmmm, let's see, which is worse- ongoing problems generally unrelated to who is president at any one time, or an attack on the U.S. Capitol approved of a by a former (sort of) U.S. president involving sedition, attempted murder of law makers, murder and injury of police officers, and looting and vandalism.
Golly... what a choice...
Funny thing about that cartoon is that it references Biden's low approval ranking...which is actually higher than Trump's was at this point in his 2nd year. These people have no shame.
Hmmm, let's see, which is worse- ongoing problems generally unrelated to who is president at any one time, or an attack on the U.S. Capitol approved of a by a former (sort of) U.S. president involving sedition, attempted murder of law makers, murder and injury of police officers, and looting and vandalism.
Golly... what a choice...
Funny thing about that cartoon is that it references Biden's low approval ranking...which is actually higher than Trump's was at this point in his 2nd year. These people have no shame.
Hmmm, let's see, which is worse- ongoing problems generally unrelated to who is president at any one time, or an attack on the U.S. Capitol approved of a by a former (sort of) U.S. president involving sedition, attempted murder of law makers, murder and injury of police officers, and looting and vandalism.
Golly... what a choice...
Funny thing about that cartoon is that it references Biden's low approval ranking...which is actually higher than Trump's was at this point in his 2nd year. These people have no shame.
True. And I wish I could say they are just here to amuse us but...
come to think of it, why do they come here?
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Where is Nancy?': Pelosi home invader was searching for speaker
A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi said the alleged assailant is in custody.
Police tape blocks a street outside the home of Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco on Oct. 28, 2022. | Eric Risberg/AP Photo
The intruder who allegedly assaulted Nancy Pelosi’s husband in the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday morning was searching for the House speaker, according to a source briefed on the attack.
The assailant broke into the Pelosi residence shouting “where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” before violently assaulting Paul Pelosi, according to the source.
A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi announced the attack in a statement Friday morning, confirming that the alleged assailant is in custody, and the motivation for the attack is under investigation. The speaker was not in San Francisco at the time of the attack and Paul Pelosi, 82, was taken to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, the spokesperson said.
“The Speaker and her family are grateful to the first responders and medical professionals involved, and request privacy at this time,” the spokesperson said.
The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement Friday that it would assist the FBI and San Francisco police with a joint investigation into the break-in, and confirmed that the speaker was in Washington with her security detail at the time of the attack. Special agents from the Capitol Police department’s California field office “quickly arrived on scene,” and a team from the department’s Threat Assessment Section was dispatched to the West Coast to assist with the joint investigation, USCP said in the statement.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott will hold a press conference to provide further details on the assault at 1 p.m. EDT.
On Friday morning, the block of stately homes where Pelosi lives was cordoned off with police tape. Several police vehicles and FBI agents were visible outside the residence.
“What’s our society coming to?” a passing man on a motorbike said after being informed of the break-in.
Pelosi had returned to Washington earlier this week from a security conference in Europe. She is scheduled to keynote an advocacy event with Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday evening.
The incident occurred as threats to lawmakers are at an all-time high almost two years after the deadly Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. Members of Congress in recent months have called for additional protection at their homes as some lawmakers have faced an increase of threats to their personal safety.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that President Joe Biden spoke with Nancy Pelosi Friday morning to “express his support after this horrible attack.” She added that the president is praying for the Pelosi family and that he’s “very glad” a full recovery is expected.
“The President continues to condemn all violence, and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected,” Jean-Pierre said.
Many congressional lawmakers, including Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, took to Twitter Friday morning to condemn the attack and express support for the speaker and her husband. Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reached out to Speaker Pelosi “to check in on Paul” and said he’s “thankful they caught the assailant,” a spokesperson for McCarthy said.
“Horrified and disgusted by the reports that Paul Pelosi was assaulted in his and Speaker Pelosi’s home last night,” McConnell said in a tweet. “Grateful to hear that Paul is on track to make a full recovery and that law enforcement including our stellar Capitol Police are on the case.”
Where is Nancy?': Pelosi home invader was searching for speaker
A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi said the alleged assailant is in custody.
Police tape blocks a street outside the home of Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco on Oct. 28, 2022. | Eric Risberg/AP Photo
The intruder who allegedly assaulted Nancy Pelosi’s husband in the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday morning was searching for the House speaker, according to a source briefed on the attack.
The assailant broke into the Pelosi residence shouting “where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” before violently assaulting Paul Pelosi, according to the source.
A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi announced the attack in a statement Friday morning, confirming that the alleged assailant is in custody, and the motivation for the attack is under investigation. The speaker was not in San Francisco at the time of the attack and Paul Pelosi, 82, was taken to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, the spokesperson said.
“The Speaker and her family are grateful to the first responders and medical professionals involved, and request privacy at this time,” the spokesperson said.
The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement Friday that it would assist the FBI and San Francisco police with a joint investigation into the break-in, and confirmed that the speaker was in Washington with her security detail at the time of the attack. Special agents from the Capitol Police department’s California field office “quickly arrived on scene,” and a team from the department’s Threat Assessment Section was dispatched to the West Coast to assist with the joint investigation, USCP said in the statement.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott will hold a press conference to provide further details on the assault at 1 p.m. EDT.
On Friday morning, the block of stately homes where Pelosi lives was cordoned off with police tape. Several police vehicles and FBI agents were visible outside the residence.
“What’s our society coming to?” a passing man on a motorbike said after being informed of the break-in.
Pelosi had returned to Washington earlier this week from a security conference in Europe. She is scheduled to keynote an advocacy event with Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday evening.
The incident occurred as threats to lawmakers are at an all-time high almost two years after the deadly Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. Members of Congress in recent months have called for additional protection at their homes as some lawmakers have faced an increase of threats to their personal safety.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that President Joe Biden spoke with Nancy Pelosi Friday morning to “express his support after this horrible attack.” She added that the president is praying for the Pelosi family and that he’s “very glad” a full recovery is expected.
“The President continues to condemn all violence, and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected,” Jean-Pierre said.
Many congressional lawmakers, including Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, took to Twitter Friday morning to condemn the attack and express support for the speaker and her husband. Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reached out to Speaker Pelosi “to check in on Paul” and said he’s “thankful they caught the assailant,” a spokesperson for McCarthy said.
“Horrified and disgusted by the reports that Paul Pelosi was assaulted in his and Speaker Pelosi’s home last night,” McConnell said in a tweet. “Grateful to hear that Paul is on track to make a full recovery and that law enforcement including our stellar Capitol Police are on the case.”
Has POOTWH issued a statement via “Truth”Social or twatter condemning the attack yet?
Where is Nancy?': Pelosi home invader was searching for speaker
A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi said the alleged assailant is in custody.
Police tape blocks a street outside the home of Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco on Oct. 28, 2022. | Eric Risberg/AP Photo
The intruder who allegedly assaulted Nancy Pelosi’s husband in the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday morning was searching for the House speaker, according to a source briefed on the attack.
The assailant broke into the Pelosi residence shouting “where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” before violently assaulting Paul Pelosi, according to the source.
A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi announced the attack in a statement Friday morning, confirming that the alleged assailant is in custody, and the motivation for the attack is under investigation. The speaker was not in San Francisco at the time of the attack and Paul Pelosi, 82, was taken to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, the spokesperson said.
“The Speaker and her family are grateful to the first responders and medical professionals involved, and request privacy at this time,” the spokesperson said.
The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement Friday that it would assist the FBI and San Francisco police with a joint investigation into the break-in, and confirmed that the speaker was in Washington with her security detail at the time of the attack. Special agents from the Capitol Police department’s California field office “quickly arrived on scene,” and a team from the department’s Threat Assessment Section was dispatched to the West Coast to assist with the joint investigation, USCP said in the statement.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott will hold a press conference to provide further details on the assault at 1 p.m. EDT.
On Friday morning, the block of stately homes where Pelosi lives was cordoned off with police tape. Several police vehicles and FBI agents were visible outside the residence.
“What’s our society coming to?” a passing man on a motorbike said after being informed of the break-in.
Pelosi had returned to Washington earlier this week from a security conference in Europe. She is scheduled to keynote an advocacy event with Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday evening.
The incident occurred as threats to lawmakers are at an all-time high almost two years after the deadly Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. Members of Congress in recent months have called for additional protection at their homes as some lawmakers have faced an increase of threats to their personal safety.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that President Joe Biden spoke with Nancy Pelosi Friday morning to “express his support after this horrible attack.” She added that the president is praying for the Pelosi family and that he’s “very glad” a full recovery is expected.
“The President continues to condemn all violence, and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected,” Jean-Pierre said.
Many congressional lawmakers, including Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, took to Twitter Friday morning to condemn the attack and express support for the speaker and her husband. Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reached out to Speaker Pelosi “to check in on Paul” and said he’s “thankful they caught the assailant,” a spokesperson for McCarthy said.
“Horrified and disgusted by the reports that Paul Pelosi was assaulted in his and Speaker Pelosi’s home last night,” McConnell said in a tweet. “Grateful to hear that Paul is on track to make a full recovery and that law enforcement including our stellar Capitol Police are on the case.”
Has POOTWH issued a statement via “Truth”Social or twatter condemning the attack yet?
He will as soon as he is allowed back by Musk on twatter as you named it!
Witness: Oath Keepers head tried to reach Trump after Jan. 6
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
33 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Days after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes tried to get a message to then-President Donald Trump that urged him to fight to stay in power and “save the republic," according to trial testimony on Wednesday.
Rhodes said in his message — given to an intermediary — that the Oath Keepers would support the Republican president if he invoked the Insurrection Act and called them up as a militia.
The message never made it to Trump. The intermediary — a Texas software developer and military veteran who testified he had an indirect way to reach the president — was taken aback by it and went to the FBI instead.
“That’s asking for civil war on American ground ... that means blood is going to be shed on streets where your family is,” Jason Alpers told jurors. He decided not to pass along Rhodes' words. “It would have wrapped me into agreeing with that ideology in some way, which I did not.”
Jurors also heard a recording Alpers made of his meeting with Rhodes in a parking lot, where the Oath Keepers leaders said “we should have brought rifles,” in reference to the Capitol riot. The group did have a large stash of weapons in a hotel room in nearby Virginia, but didn’t use them that day. FBI agents also traced more than $17,000 in firearm parts, magazines, ammunition and other items Rhodes purchased after the insurrection.
Alpers testified as prosecutors began to wrap up their case against Rhodes and four associates in the most serious case stemming from the Jan. 6 attack to go to trial yet. Prosecutors sought to show that Rhodes continued plotting to stop the transfer of presidential power even after the Capitol riot, which delayed the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Alpers' connection to Trump is unclear, and he didn't elaborate on how he could have gotten the message to him. Alpers went to the FBI a few months later with the recording of his mid-January 2021 meeting with Rhodes.
The two men had a mutual acquaintance and Alpers agreed to meet the antigovernment group leader to potentially pass along a message to Trump. He met Rhodes with a group of supporters in a parking lot of an electronics store in the Dallas area.
Alpers recorded the meeting with a thumb-drive recording device to protect himself and ensure he had an accurate depiction of the message, he said. After chatting with Alpers, Rhodes wrote down a message on Alpers' phone for the president.
In it, Rhodes implored Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and promised that the Oath Keepers would support him if he did.
“You must use the Insurrection Act and use the power of presidency to stop him. All us veterans will support you,” Rhodes wrote. If Trump didn't act, Rhodes warned that Trump and his children would “die in prison." In the meeting, Rhodes also vented his frustration with the president to his new acquaintance.
“If he's not going to do the right thing and he’s just gonna let himself be removed illegally then we should have brought rifles,” Rhodes said, according to the recording of meeting. “We should have fixed it right then and there. I'd hang (expletive) Pelosi from the lamppost," Rhodes said, referring to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Rhodes and his co-defendants are the first among hundreds of people arrested in the Capitol riot to stand trial on seditious conspiracy, a rare Civil War-era charge that calls for up to 20 years behind bars. The stakes are high for the Justice Department, which last secured such a conviction at trial nearly 30 years ago, and intends to try two more groups on the charge later this year.
Rhodes' lawyers have said their client didn't commit seditious conspiracy because he believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act and call up the Oath Keepers as a militia to put down what Rhodes saw as a coup by Democrats.
The Insurrection Act gives presidents broad authority to call up the military and decide what shape that force will take. Trump floated invoking it at other times in his presidency but never did. Rhodes' lawyers have argued their client was merely lobbying a president to utilize a law.
While questioning Alpers on the stand, defense attorneys sought to portray the message as another bombastic way to call on an elected official to invoke a law. Alpers also acknowledged that he didn’t turn over the recording to the FBI immediately, saying he initially didn’t want to get involved.
On trial with Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, are Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, another Florida Oath Keeper; Thomas Caldwell, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer from Virginia, and Jessica Watkins, who led an Ohio militia group.
___
Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.
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Witness: Oath Keepers head tried to reach Trump after Jan. 6
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
33 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Days after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes tried to get a message to then-President Donald Trump that urged him to fight to stay in power and “save the republic," according to trial testimony on Wednesday.
Rhodes said in his message — given to an intermediary — that the Oath Keepers would support the Republican president if he invoked the Insurrection Act and called them up as a militia.
The message never made it to Trump. The intermediary — a Texas software developer and military veteran who testified he had an indirect way to reach the president — was taken aback by it and went to the FBI instead.
“That’s asking for civil war on American ground ... that means blood is going to be shed on streets where your family is,” Jason Alpers told jurors. He decided not to pass along Rhodes' words. “It would have wrapped me into agreeing with that ideology in some way, which I did not.”
Jurors also heard a recording Alpers made of his meeting with Rhodes in a parking lot, where the Oath Keepers leaders said “we should have brought rifles,” in reference to the Capitol riot. The group did have a large stash of weapons in a hotel room in nearby Virginia, but didn’t use them that day. FBI agents also traced more than $17,000 in firearm parts, magazines, ammunition and other items Rhodes purchased after the insurrection.
Alpers testified as prosecutors began to wrap up their case against Rhodes and four associates in the most serious case stemming from the Jan. 6 attack to go to trial yet. Prosecutors sought to show that Rhodes continued plotting to stop the transfer of presidential power even after the Capitol riot, which delayed the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Alpers' connection to Trump is unclear, and he didn't elaborate on how he could have gotten the message to him. Alpers went to the FBI a few months later with the recording of his mid-January 2021 meeting with Rhodes.
The two men had a mutual acquaintance and Alpers agreed to meet the antigovernment group leader to potentially pass along a message to Trump. He met Rhodes with a group of supporters in a parking lot of an electronics store in the Dallas area.
Alpers recorded the meeting with a thumb-drive recording device to protect himself and ensure he had an accurate depiction of the message, he said. After chatting with Alpers, Rhodes wrote down a message on Alpers' phone for the president.
In it, Rhodes implored Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and promised that the Oath Keepers would support him if he did.
“You must use the Insurrection Act and use the power of presidency to stop him. All us veterans will support you,” Rhodes wrote. If Trump didn't act, Rhodes warned that Trump and his children would “die in prison." In the meeting, Rhodes also vented his frustration with the president to his new acquaintance.
“If he's not going to do the right thing and he’s just gonna let himself be removed illegally then we should have brought rifles,” Rhodes said, according to the recording of meeting. “We should have fixed it right then and there. I'd hang (expletive) Pelosi from the lamppost," Rhodes said, referring to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Rhodes and his co-defendants are the first among hundreds of people arrested in the Capitol riot to stand trial on seditious conspiracy, a rare Civil War-era charge that calls for up to 20 years behind bars. The stakes are high for the Justice Department, which last secured such a conviction at trial nearly 30 years ago, and intends to try two more groups on the charge later this year.
Rhodes' lawyers have said their client didn't commit seditious conspiracy because he believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act and call up the Oath Keepers as a militia to put down what Rhodes saw as a coup by Democrats.
The Insurrection Act gives presidents broad authority to call up the military and decide what shape that force will take. Trump floated invoking it at other times in his presidency but never did. Rhodes' lawyers have argued their client was merely lobbying a president to utilize a law.
While questioning Alpers on the stand, defense attorneys sought to portray the message as another bombastic way to call on an elected official to invoke a law. Alpers also acknowledged that he didn’t turn over the recording to the FBI immediately, saying he initially didn’t want to get involved.
On trial with Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, are Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, another Florida Oath Keeper; Thomas Caldwell, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer from Virginia, and Jessica Watkins, who led an Ohio militia group.
___
Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.
just imagine for a second....hillary kept saying leading up to the election that if she lost it was rigged...then refused to concede...then held a rally at trump's inauguration...then democrats stormed the capitol, looking to hunt down kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell...republicans would be screaming about it harder and longer than any democrats and would likely enact incredibly restrictive laws and the arrests and harassment would never end.
just imagine.
anyone who believes the election was stolen honestly isn't fit to vote. the stupidity is off the fucking charts.
just imagine for a second....hillary kept saying leading up to the election that if she lost it was rigged...then refused to concede...then held a rally at trump's inauguration...then democrats stormed the capitol, looking to hunt down kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell...republicans would be screaming about it harder and longer than any democrats and would likely enact incredibly restrictive laws and the arrests and harassment would never end.
just imagine.
anyone who believes the election was stolen honestly isn't fit to vote. the stupidity is off the fucking charts.
The stupidity will be ‘Murica’s downfall. As James The Ragin Cajun asked, “you know what you get when stupid people vote in primaries? Stupid people to run in the general.”
Comments
WASHINGTON (AP) — The defense team in the Capitol riot trial of the Oath Keepers leader is relying on an unusual strategy with Donald Trump at the center.
Lawyers for Stewart Rhodes, founder of the extremist group, are poised to argue that jurors cannot find him guilty of seditious conspiracy because all the actions he took before the siege on Jan. 6, 2021, were in preparation for orders he anticipated from the then-president — orders that never came.
Rhodes and four associates are accused of plotting for weeks to stop the transfer of presidential power from the Republican incumbent to Democrat Joe Biden, culminating with Oath Keepers in battle gear storming the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters.
Opening statements in the trial are set to begin Monday.
Rhodes intends to take the stand to argue he believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act to call up a militia to support him, his lawyers have said. Trump didn't do that, but Rhodes' team says that what prosecutors allege was an illegal conspiracy was "actually lobbying and preparation for the President to utilize" the law.
It's a novel legal argument in a trial that's one of the most serious cases coming out of the Capitol attack.
CAPITOL SIEGE
Capitol riot jury picked for 1st seditious conspiracy trial
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EXPLAINER: Rare sedition charge at center of Jan. 6 trial
Capitol rioter, a ‘one man wrecking ball,' gets 7-year term
"This is an incredibly complicated defense of theory and I don't think that it's ever played out in this fashion in American jurisprudence," one of Rhodes' lawyers, James Lee Bright, told The Associated Press.
The Insurrection Act gives a president broad authority to call up the military and decide what shape that force will take. Trump did float that kind of action at other points in his presidency.
To succeed with this line of defense, Bright would have to convince a jury that Rhodes was waiting on the go-ahead from the president, which could be a major hurdle.
Rhodes' lawyers have argued Trump could have called up a militia in response to “what he perceived as a conspiracy to deprive a class of persons in several states of their voting rights." Rhodes published an open letter on the Oath Keepers' website in December 2020 urging Trump use the Insurrection Act to “‘stop the steal’ and defeat the coup.”
If Rhodes testifies, he could face intense questioning from prosecutors, who say his own words show the Oath Keepers would act no matter what Trump did.
Bright said Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate, understands the risks of testifying but has insisted since the first day they met that he be able to “speak his piece."
Rhodes and his associates — Kelly Meggs, Thomas Caldwell, Jessica Watkins and Kenneth Harrelson — are the first Jan. 6 defendants to be tried on seditious conspiracy, a rarely used Civil War-era charge that can be difficult to prove.
The defense would have to convince the jury that the Oath Keepers really intended to defend the government, not use force against it, said David Alan Sklansky, a former federal prosecutor who's now a professor at Stanford Law School.
“If you think you are plotting to help protect the government, there is an argument that that means you don’t have the required guilty mindset that’s necessary in order to be guilty of seditious conspiracy," he said.
Court records show the Oath Keepers repeatedly warning of the prospect of violence if Biden were to become president. The Oath Keepers amassed weapons and stationed armed “quick reaction force” teams at a Virginia hotel in case they were needed, prosecutors say.
Among those likely to testify against Rhodes are three of his former followers, including one who has said Rhodes instructed them to be ready to use lethal force if necessary to keep Trump in the White House.
Defense lawyers say the quick reaction force teams were defensive forces only to be used if Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. If Rhodes really wanted to lead a revolution, his lawyers say there was no better opportunity to deploy the quick reaction force than when hundreds of people were storming the Capitol. But the Oath Keepers never did.
“The conditions would never be better. Yet, Rhodes and the others left the Capitol grounds and went to Olive Garden for dinner,” they've written in court papers. Rhodes never went into the Capitol and has said that the Oath Keepers who did acted on their own.
The Insurrection Act is shorthand for a series of statues that Congress passed between 1872 and 1871 defining when military force can be used in the United States by the federal government, said University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck. The Act does give the president wide discretion to decide when military force is necessary, and what qualifies as military force, Vladeck said.
The last time the Insurrection Act was used was in May of 1992, by President George H.W. Bush to call out the military to respond to Los Angeles riots after the acquittal of white police officers accused in the beating of Black motorist Rodney King.
Even if Trump had acted, prosecutors would still have a strong case that the Oath Keepers tried to keep Congress from carrying out its responsibilities as part of the transfer of presidential power, Vladeck said. Even if the president could authorize their actions, the Oath Keepers could still have been — as the law puts it — forcibly opposing other elements of the government, he said.
“The government of the United States is more than just the president,” Vladeck said.
Michael Weinstein, a former Justice Department prosecutor, agreed that Rhodes' argument is not likely to win over a jury. But that may not be his only goal.
“I think it’s going to be a little bit of a show trial for him,” said Weinstein, now a criminal defense lawyer in New Jersey. “This is his opportunity to really promote himself and his philosophy and make himself out to be a bit of a martyr."
Trump did talk about sending in U.S. troops to American cities in summer 2020 as protesters filled the streets in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a police officer, an action that would have come under the Insurrection Act. He never did.
Los Angeles-based defense lawyer Nina Marino said the Insurrection Act defense could work.
“I think it’s a great defense from the 1800s resurrected into 2022,” she said. But she added: “If there’s evidence that they would have done it anyway, then I think that really, really damages the defense.”
Prosecutors have already pointed to a message from December 2020 that Rhodes wrote, saying Trump “needs to know that if he fails to act, then we will." Days before the riot, Rhodes warned that the “final nail” would be put in the “coffin of this Republic,” unless they fought their way out.
"With Trump (preferably) or without him, we have no choice,” Rhodes wrote in a chat, according to court papers. He added: “Be prepared for a major let down on the 6-8th. And get ready to do it OURSELVES."
____
Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press writer Michael Kunzelman contributed to this report.
___
For full coverage of the Capitol riot, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege
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A lieutenant of longtime former Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio became the group’s first member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Thursday, deepening the government’s case against an organization accused of mobilizing violence to prevent the inauguration of Joe Biden.
Jeremy Bertino, 43, of Belmont, N.C., becomes a potential key witness for the Justice Department against Tarrio and four other Proud Boys leaders, some of whom had ties to influential supporters of President Donald Trump. The five Proud Boys defendants are set to face trial in December on charges including plotting to oppose by force the presidential transition, culminating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol.
At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly in Washington, Bertino pleaded guilty to that count and to one count of illegal possession of firearms as a formerly convicted felon, punishable by 51 to 63 months in prison at sentencing under advisory federal guidelines, prosecutors said.
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
WASHINGTON (AP) — Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes told a member of the extremist group before the 2020 election that he had a contact in the Secret Service, a witness testified Thursday in Rhodes' Capitol riot trial.
John Zimmerman, who was part of the North Carolina chapter, told jurors that Rhodes claimed to have a Secret Service agent's number and to have spoken with the agent about the logistics of a September 2020 rally that then-President Donald Trump held in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The claim came on the third day of testimony in the case against Rhodes and four others charged with seditious conspiracy for what authorities have described as a detailed, drawn-out plot to stop the transfer of power from Trump to Democrat Joe Biden, who won the election.
Zimmerman could not say for sure that Rhodes was speaking to someone with the Secret Service — only that Rhodes told him he was — and it was not clear what they were discussing. Zimmerman said Rhodes wanted to find out the “parameters” that the Oath Keepers could operate under during the election-year rally.
The significance of the detail in the government's case is unclear. Rhodes, from Granbury Texas, and and the others are accused of spending weeks plotting to use violence in a desperate campaign to keep Trump in the White House.
Trump's potential ties to extremist groups have been a focus of the House committee investigating the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Another Oath Keeper expected to testify against Rhodes has claimed that after the riot, Rhodes phoned someone seemingly close to Trump and made a request: tell Trump to call on militia groups to fight to keep him in power. Authorities have not identified that person; Rhodes' lawyer says the call never happened.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said it is not uncommon for “protest groups” to contact the agency with logistical questions about rallies. He noted that firearms are always prohibited within restricted areas being secured by the agency. Guglielmi said he is not aware of any contact between Rhodes and an agency representative but would not be surprised if Rhodes said he had contacted the Secret Service before the North Carolina event.
“I don't have any way to track that down without some more information," the spokesman said.
The others are trial are Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia; Kenneth Harrelson of Titusville, Florida; Jessica Watkins of Woodstock, Ohio; and Kelly Meggs of Dunnellon, Florida. The trial is expected to last several weeks.
Authorities say the Oath Keepers organized paramilitary training and stashed weapons with “quick reaction force” teams at a Virginia hotel in case they were needed before members stormed the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters.
Jurors also heard testimony from a man who secretly recorded a Nov. 9, 2020, conference call held by Rhodes in which the leader rallied his followers to prepare for violence and go to Washington.
The man, Abdullah Rasheed, said he began recording the call with hundreds of Oath Keepers members because Rhodes' rhetoric made it sound like "we were going to war with the United States government.”
Rasheed said he tried to get in touch with authorities, including the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI, about the call but that no one called him back until “after it all happened.” An FBI agent has testified that the bureau received a tip about the call in November 2020, and when asked if the FBI ever conducted an interview, he said ”not to my knowledge." The man contacted the FBI again in March 2021, was interviewed and gave authorities the recording of the call.
Rhodes' lawyers have said the Oath Keepers leader will testify that his actions leading up to Jan. 6 were in preparation for orders he believed were coming from Trump, but never did. Rhodes has said he believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act and call up a militia to support his bid to hold power.
The defense says the Oath Keepers often set up quick reaction forces for events but they were only to be used to protect against violence from antifa activists or in the event Trump invoked the Insurrection Act.
Zimmerman, the former Oath Keeper from North Carolina, described getting a quick reaction force ready for the “Million MAGA March” in Washington on Nov. 14, 2020, in case Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. Thousands of Trump supporters that day gathered at Freedom Plaza along Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington to rally behind Trump’s false election claims.
Zimmerman told jurors that the Oath Keepers stashed at least a dozen rifles and several handguns in his van parked at Arlington National Cemetery to serve as the quick reaction force. He said they never took the guns into Washington.
Zimmerman wasn’t in the city on Jan. 6 because he was recovering from the coronavirus and he said that after the Nov. 14 event, the North Carolina Oath Keepers split from Rhodes. Zimmerman said the split came over Rhodes' suggestion that the Oath Keepers wear disguises to entice antifa activists to attack them so the Oath Keepers could give them a “beat down.”
Zimmerman said Rhodes suggested dressing up as older people or mothers pushing strollers and putting weapons in the stroller.
“I told him 'No, that's not what we do,'” Zimmerman said. “That's entrapment. That's illegal.”
In a separate case on Thursday, Jeremy Joseph Bertino of North Carolina became the first member of the Proud Boys extremist group to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack. Three Oath Keeper members have also pleaded guilty to the charge.
___
For full coverage of the Capitol riot, go to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege
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Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
Brilliantati©
Federal prosecutors on Sunday recommended a prison sentence of approximately four years for a Pennsylvania man who pleaded guilty to assaulting an Associated Press photographer and using a stun gun against police officers during a mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss is scheduled to sentence Alan Byerly on Oct. 21 for his attack on AP photographer John Minchillo and police during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in Washington.
Sentencing guidelines recommend a prison term ranging from 37 to 46 months. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of at least 46 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release. Byerly’s attorney has until Friday to submit a sentencing recommendation.
The judge isn't bound by any of the sentencing recommendations.
Byerly was arrested in July 2021 and pleaded guilty a year later to assault charges.
Byerly purchased a stun gun before he traveled from his home in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6. Leaving the rally before then-President Donald Trump finished speaking, Byerly went to the Capitol and joined other rioters in using a large metal Trump sign as a battering ram against barricades and police officers, prosecutors said.
CAPITOL SIEGE
Ex-Oath Keeper: Group leader claimed Secret Service contact
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After that, he went to the Capitol's Lower West Terrace, where he and other rioters attacked Minchillo, who was wearing a lanyard with AP lettering. Byerly is one of at least three people charged with assaulting Minchillo, whose assault was captured on video by a colleague.
Byerly then approached police officers behind bike racks and deployed his stun gun.
“After officers successfully removed the stun gun from Byerly’s hands, Byerly continued to charge toward the officers, struck and pushed them, and grabbed an officer’s baton,” prosecutors wrote.
Byerly later told FBI agents that he did just “one stupid thing down there and that’s all it was,” according to prosecutors.
“This was a reference to how he handled the reporter and nothing more,” they wrote.
Byerly treated Jan. 6 “as a normal, crime-free day, akin to the movie, ‘The Purge,’ when he could do whatever he wanted without judgment or legal consequence,” prosecutors said.
“He was mistaken,” they added.
More than 100 police officers were injured during the Capitol siege.
Approximately 900 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct on Jan. 6. More than 400 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor offenses. Over 280 riot defendants have been sentenced, with roughly half sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from one week to 10 years.
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Trump supporters convicted of bringing guns near the 2020 Philly vote count, but cleared of election interference
Joshua Macias and Antonio Lamotta were convicted Wednesday of weapons offenses — but cleared of the rare election violations they also faced.
by Chris PalmerUpdated 46 minutes ago
Two Virginia men who were arrested in 2020 for carrying guns near the Convention Center as votes from the presidential election were being counted were convicted Wednesday of weapons offenses — but cleared of the rare election violations that city prosecutors had also filed against them.
Common Pleas Court Judge Lucretia Clemons found Antonio Lamotta and Joshua Macias guilty of two gun charges each, ruling that the men — Donald Trump supporters who drove to the city in a Hummer loaded with handguns, an assault rifle, and ammunition — had carried weapons in the city without proper permits on Nov. 5, 2020, as votes were being tabulated.
Clemons, without explaining her ruling, acquitted Lamotta and Macias of counts including election interference and hindering performance of duty. The District Attorney’s Office had argued that the men should be convicted of those infrequently used charges because they told FBI agents they had come to Philadelphia to ensure that all votes in the election were being properly counted.
» READ MORE: Two men outside Philly vote count in Hummer with QAnon stickers face weapons charges, police say
They also sent text messages to each other and to friends, imploring people to visit swing states with close or contested vote counts to “poll watch,” prosecutors said, using phrases such as we need patriots or #StopTheSteal before getting into their SUV — emblazoned with a QAnon conspiracy sticker — and visiting Philadelphia.
“They [had] the intent of taking matters into their own hands,” Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Palmer said in his closing argument during a bench trial before Clemons.
by Alzheimer's Association
Attorneys for the men — William J. Brennan, Alan Tauber, and Lauren Wimmer — vehemently disagreed, telling Clemons that although the men may have lacked proper permits to carry their firearms in the city, they were licensed Virginia gun owners who did not threaten any city election official or make any attempt to see or interfere with the counting of the votes.
“They came to Philadelphia, they didn’t bother anybody,” Brennan said.
Wimmer said: “There’s no attempt here to do anything — they’re walking the streets.”
Speaking outside the courthouse afterward, Tauber said: “There was no evidence whatsoever that these gentlemen had any intention of interfering with the election or disturbing it in any way.”
District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement: “Let this be a lesson not to illegally bring firearms to Philly’s elections. If you commit a crime while seeking to undermine people’s right to vote, and to have their votes appropriately counted, you will be held accountable.”
Macias and Lamotta are scheduled to be sentenced in December.
The District Attorney’s Office had alleged that on Nov. 5, 2020 — two days after Election Day — Macias and Lamotta drove to the city from Virginia with handguns, an AR-15-style rifle, and 160 rounds of ammunition.
Text messages presented to Clemons on Wednesday showed both men sending messages and chats asking friends to take action in an election Trump was falsely saying had been stolen.
Macias, a cofounder of the group Vets for Trump, sent one flier-like image that read in part: “If you are in a neighboring state, take your vacation now and help the cause!”
And the day before Macias and Lamotta had come to the city, prosecutors said, they’d exchanged texts about bringing guns on their trip to Philadelphia.
“We need arms?” Lamotta wrote to Macias on Nov. 4, according to evidence prosecutors presented.
“For each of us,” Macias replied.
The next morning, Lamotta wrote Macias: “I’m ready ... Hummer cleared out.”
The men arrived in Philadelphia on Nov. 5 and were arrested that night on the street near the Convention Center. Officers had noticed them carrying guns, and a search of the Hummer turned up the rifle and additional ammunition.
» READ MORE: Virginia men arrested for gun offenses during Philly vote count face new election-interference charges
Prosecutors at first charged the pair with only weapons offenses. But last year, they added a set of election interference charges.
They also repeatedly asked the courts to revoke bail for the men as the case wound its way toward trial. And Krasner described the incident as a potential mass shooting situation averted only by the swift action of law enforcement.
Earlier this year, Lamotta was federally charged with taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. And video emerged capturing Macias meeting with leaders of the extremist groups the Oathkeepers and the Proud Boys in a hotel parking garage the day before the riot. That footage was featured during a hearing organized by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
Without addressing those allegations, Brennan, one of Macias’ attorneys, said the pair did not deserve to face the election-related offenses they’d been charged with here. And he disputed Krasner’s suggestion that they could have turned to violence if they hadn’t been arrested.
Macias and Lamotta were “a couple of knuckleheads who drove up here to stare at the building and watch what was going on,” Brennan said. “And while that may be offensive to some people, and that may be unpleasant, and may be impolite, it’s not illegal.”
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Dems are ahead in generic congressional ballot polling.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/28/nancy-pelosi-husband-assaulted-00063965
Where is Nancy?': Pelosi home invader was searching for speaker
A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi said the alleged assailant is in custody.
Police tape blocks a street outside the home of Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco on Oct. 28, 2022. | Eric Risberg/AP Photo
By KELLY HOOPER
10/28/2022 09:01 AM EDT
Updated: 10/28/2022 01:01 PM EDT
The intruder who allegedly assaulted Nancy Pelosi’s husband in the couple’s San Francisco home early Friday morning was searching for the House speaker, according to a source briefed on the attack.
The assailant broke into the Pelosi residence shouting “where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” before violently assaulting Paul Pelosi, according to the source.
A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi announced the attack in a statement Friday morning, confirming that the alleged assailant is in custody, and the motivation for the attack is under investigation. The speaker was not in San Francisco at the time of the attack and Paul Pelosi, 82, was taken to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, the spokesperson said.
“The Speaker and her family are grateful to the first responders and medical professionals involved, and request privacy at this time,” the spokesperson said.
The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement Friday that it would assist the FBI and San Francisco police with a joint investigation into the break-in, and confirmed that the speaker was in Washington with her security detail at the time of the attack. Special agents from the Capitol Police department’s California field office “quickly arrived on scene,” and a team from the department’s Threat Assessment Section was dispatched to the West Coast to assist with the joint investigation, USCP said in the statement.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott will hold a press conference to provide further details on the assault at 1 p.m. EDT.
On Friday morning, the block of stately homes where Pelosi lives was cordoned off with police tape. Several police vehicles and FBI agents were visible outside the residence.
“What’s our society coming to?” a passing man on a motorbike said after being informed of the break-in.
Pelosi had returned to Washington earlier this week from a security conference in Europe. She is scheduled to keynote an advocacy event with Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday evening.
The incident occurred as threats to lawmakers are at an all-time high almost two years after the deadly Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. Members of Congress in recent months have called for additional protection at their homes as some lawmakers have faced an increase of threats to their personal safety.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that President Joe Biden spoke with Nancy Pelosi Friday morning to “express his support after this horrible attack.” She added that the president is praying for the Pelosi family and that he’s “very glad” a full recovery is expected.
“The President continues to condemn all violence, and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected,” Jean-Pierre said.
Many congressional lawmakers, including Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, took to Twitter Friday morning to condemn the attack and express support for the speaker and her husband. Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reached out to Speaker Pelosi “to check in on Paul” and said he’s “thankful they caught the assailant,” a spokesperson for McCarthy said.
“Horrified and disgusted by the reports that Paul Pelosi was assaulted in his and Speaker Pelosi’s home last night,” McConnell said in a tweet. “Grateful to hear that Paul is on track to make a full recovery and that law enforcement including our stellar Capitol Police are on the case.”
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Is it fair to ask how much this person was radicalized by over the top hyperbole & rhetoric from elected leaders and right wing media?
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#HYPOCRITES
WASHINGTON (AP) — Days after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes tried to get a message to then-President Donald Trump that urged him to fight to stay in power and “save the republic," according to trial testimony on Wednesday.
Rhodes said in his message — given to an intermediary — that the Oath Keepers would support the Republican president if he invoked the Insurrection Act and called them up as a militia.
The message never made it to Trump. The intermediary — a Texas software developer and military veteran who testified he had an indirect way to reach the president — was taken aback by it and went to the FBI instead.
“That’s asking for civil war on American ground ... that means blood is going to be shed on streets where your family is,” Jason Alpers told jurors. He decided not to pass along Rhodes' words. “It would have wrapped me into agreeing with that ideology in some way, which I did not.”
Jurors also heard a recording Alpers made of his meeting with Rhodes in a parking lot, where the Oath Keepers leaders said “we should have brought rifles,” in reference to the Capitol riot. The group did have a large stash of weapons in a hotel room in nearby Virginia, but didn’t use them that day. FBI agents also traced more than $17,000 in firearm parts, magazines, ammunition and other items Rhodes purchased after the insurrection.
CAPITOL SIEGE
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Ex-Capitol cop who messaged 1/6 rioter guilty of obstruction
Democrats cautiously campaign on Jan. 6, democracy threats
Alpers testified as prosecutors began to wrap up their case against Rhodes and four associates in the most serious case stemming from the Jan. 6 attack to go to trial yet. Prosecutors sought to show that Rhodes continued plotting to stop the transfer of presidential power even after the Capitol riot, which delayed the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Alpers' connection to Trump is unclear, and he didn't elaborate on how he could have gotten the message to him. Alpers went to the FBI a few months later with the recording of his mid-January 2021 meeting with Rhodes.
The two men had a mutual acquaintance and Alpers agreed to meet the antigovernment group leader to potentially pass along a message to Trump. He met Rhodes with a group of supporters in a parking lot of an electronics store in the Dallas area.
Alpers recorded the meeting with a thumb-drive recording device to protect himself and ensure he had an accurate depiction of the message, he said. After chatting with Alpers, Rhodes wrote down a message on Alpers' phone for the president.
In it, Rhodes implored Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and promised that the Oath Keepers would support him if he did.
“You must use the Insurrection Act and use the power of presidency to stop him. All us veterans will support you,” Rhodes wrote. If Trump didn't act, Rhodes warned that Trump and his children would “die in prison." In the meeting, Rhodes also vented his frustration with the president to his new acquaintance.
“If he's not going to do the right thing and he’s just gonna let himself be removed illegally then we should have brought rifles,” Rhodes said, according to the recording of meeting. “We should have fixed it right then and there. I'd hang (expletive) Pelosi from the lamppost," Rhodes said, referring to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Rhodes and his co-defendants are the first among hundreds of people arrested in the Capitol riot to stand trial on seditious conspiracy, a rare Civil War-era charge that calls for up to 20 years behind bars. The stakes are high for the Justice Department, which last secured such a conviction at trial nearly 30 years ago, and intends to try two more groups on the charge later this year.
Rhodes' lawyers have said their client didn't commit seditious conspiracy because he believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act and call up the Oath Keepers as a militia to put down what Rhodes saw as a coup by Democrats.
The Insurrection Act gives presidents broad authority to call up the military and decide what shape that force will take. Trump floated invoking it at other times in his presidency but never did. Rhodes' lawyers have argued their client was merely lobbying a president to utilize a law.
While questioning Alpers on the stand, defense attorneys sought to portray the message as another bombastic way to call on an elected official to invoke a law. Alpers also acknowledged that he didn’t turn over the recording to the FBI immediately, saying he initially didn’t want to get involved.
On trial with Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, are Kelly Meggs, leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers; Kenneth Harrelson, another Florida Oath Keeper; Thomas Caldwell, a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer from Virginia, and Jessica Watkins, who led an Ohio militia group.
___
Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of Jan. 6 at https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
just imagine.
anyone who believes the election was stolen honestly isn't fit to vote. the stupidity is off the fucking charts.
Cheers,
HFD
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